Pipelines and Alternatives

Conservatives cite Energy East as a means to avoid Saudi oil

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Published: 23 October 2018

Source:montrealgazette.com

Tory MP Pierre Paul-Hus argued during a news conference Monday that it was time to stop being “hypocritical” on the issue of using petroleum and that party leader Andrew Scheer’s idea to sit down again with TransCanada, Energy East’s promoter, is aimed at making Canada self-sufficient on energy.

Studies of the project, which was opposed by many Quebec municipalities, found that the Energy East pipeline would have served almost exclusively to export petroleum from the oil sands to other markets.

The project was finally abandoned by TransCanada last October after changes were made by the National Energy Board to the project evaluation process.

But in a speech made by Scheer on Sunday as the one-year countdown to the next federal election begins, the Conservative leader said a Tory government would try and revive the project.

Energy East received tremendous opposition from environmentalists and First Nations in Quebec and was perceived as a crucial issue in the 2015 general federal election.